Restaurants hungry for workers

Well, no one is asking that — yet. But at the rate restaurant jobs are growing, investors have to at least start to believe that the $683 billion restaurant industry is on the mend.

The industry added a net 32,800 jobs in June and more than 173,000 jobs during the first six months of the year, says Bruce Grindy, chief economist at the National Restaurant Association. Overall, restaurant employment was up 3.1% on a year-to-date basis through June 2014, nearly double the 1.7% gain in total U.S. employment.

Job growth within the restaurant industry has been broad-based in 2014, just as it has been throughout the post-recession period. On a year-to-date basis through May 2014 (segment-level figures are lagged by one month), fast-food restaurants added jobs at a strong 4.0% rate. This puts fast food on pace to post job growth of at least 4% for the third consecutive year.

But the fancier restaurants didn’t do quite as well. The full-service segment added jobs at a 2.9 % rate through the first five months of 2014. While this is down somewhat from the consecutive 3.4% gains registered in 2012 and 2013, full-service employment gains remain well above job growth in the overall economy.

Meanwhile, those restaurants that cater to snackers are hiring like crazy. The snack and non-alcoholic beverage bar segment — which includes concepts such as coffee, doughnut and ice cream shops — added jobs at a robust 6.1% rate on a year-to-date basis through May 2014. If this trend continues, it would represent this segment’s strongest growth since 2007, as well as the third consecutive year with employment gains above 5%.